Barcelona is a major city located on the northeastern coast of Spain and serves as the capital of Catalonia. It is the second-most populous municipality in Spain with a city population of 1.6 million, and an urban area extending to approximately 5.3 million residents. This makes it the fifth most populous urban area within the European Union. Geographically, Barcelona is situated along the Mediterranean Sea, nestled between the Llobregat and Besòs rivers, and bordered by the Serra de Collserola mountain range to the west, marking it as one of the Mediterranean's largest metropolises.
1882: Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona founded
In 1882 the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona was founded under the name of "Museo Martorell de Arqueología y Ciencias Naturales".
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1900: Barcelona Population
In 1900, Barcelona had a population of 533,000.
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1900: Demographics
In 1900, almost a third (28.9 percent) of the population were children (aged younger than 14 years).
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1920: Laboratori de Natura at the Castle of the Three Dragons
From 1920 to 2010, the Laboratori de Natura operated at the Castle of the Three Dragons as the Zoology Museum.
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1924: Martorell Museum opened to the public
From 1924 to 2010, the Martorell Museum was open to the public as a geology museum.
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1929: Barcelona International Exposition (Expo 1929)
In 1929, Barcelona hosted the Barcelona International Exposition (Expo 1929).
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1929: Barcelona Pavilion designed
In 1929, Mies van der Rohe designed the Barcelona Pavilion for the International Exposition for Germany, symbolizing modern architecture.
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1930: Barcelona Pavilion torn down
In 1930, less than a year after its construction, the Barcelona Pavilion was torn down.
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1930: Historical Botanical Garden of Barcelona founded
The Historical Botanical Garden of Barcelona was founded in 1930.
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1936: Barcelona: Capital of Revolutionary Catalonia
In 1936, Barcelona became the capital of Revolutionary Catalonia during the Spanish Revolution.
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January 1939: Fall of Barcelona
On January 26, 1939, Barcelona fell, causing a mass exodus of civilians fleeing to the French border, marking a significant moment in the Spanish Civil War.
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1939: Capture by Fascists
In 1939, Barcelona was captured by the fascists during the Spanish Civil War.
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1945: Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art focuses on post-1945 art
The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art focuses on Catalan and Spanish art from 1945 onwards.
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1950: End of Catalan modernista architecture
Catalan modernista architecture developed between 1885 and 1950, leaving a significant architectural legacy in Barcelona.
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1950: Population Increase
In 1950, Barcelona began absorbing a high number of people from other less-industrialized parts of Spain.
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1957: EADA Business School Founded
In 1957, the EADA Business School was founded, becoming the first Barcelona institution to run manager training programmes for the business community.
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1960: First version of Municipal Law
In 1960, a first version of the Municipal Law was passed.
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1960: Can Framis Museum focused on post-1960 Catalan Art
The Can Framis Museum focused on post-1960 Catalan Art owned by Fundació Vila Casas.
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1975: Death of Franco
In 1975, the death of Franco brought on a period of democratization throughout Spain.
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September 1977: Massive demonstrations
On September 11, 1977, over a million people demonstrated in Barcelona, calling for the restoration of Catalan autonomy.
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1979: Population Peak
In 1979, Barcelona's population peaked at 1,906,998.
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1982: FIFA World Cup Matches
In 1982, Barcelona hosted several matches during the FIFA World Cup.
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1986: Spanish Accession to the European Community
In 1986, Spain joined the European Community, which helped Barcelona's development.
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1986: Barcelona Pavilion re-created
In 1986, a modern re-creation of the Barcelona Pavilion by Spanish architects was constructed in Barcelona.
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1987: ETA car bombing at Hipercor
In 1987, an ETA car bombing at Hipercor killed 21 people.
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1987: City Divided into Administrative Districts
Since 1987, the city has been divided into 10 administrative districts.
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1992: Barcelona hosts the Summer Olympics
In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympics, driving major changes in the city's infrastructure and international perception.
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1992: Barcelona hosts the Summer Olympics
In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympics, enhancing its reputation as a major tourist destination.
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1992: Barcelona hosts Summer Olympics
In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympics, leading to the restructuring and opening of several city beaches after the demolition of industrial buildings.
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1992: Barcelona's Designation as Host City of the Summer Olympics
In 1992, Barcelona was the host city of the Summer Olympics, promoting urban regeneration and increasing its international reputation.
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1992: Olympics Stadium
In 1992, the publicly owned Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys was used for the Olympics.
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1992: Estació del Nord Renovation
The Estació del Nord was renovated for the 1992 Olympic Games.
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1996: Population Born Outside Spain
In 1996, 3.9% of Barcelona's population was born outside of Spain.
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1997: Industrial Establishments in Catalonia
As of 1997, the Barcelona metropolitan area contained 67% of the total number of industrial establishments in Catalonia.
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1999: Barcelona wins RIBA Royal Gold Medal
In 1999, Barcelona won the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for its architecture, marking the first time the award was given to a city rather than an individual architect.
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1999: New Venue for OBC
In 1999, the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (OBC) inaugurated its new venue in the brand-new Auditorium (L'Auditori).
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1999: Botanical Garden of Barcelona founded
The Botanical Garden of Barcelona was founded in 1999.
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2000: Cultural Roots go back 2000 years
Barcelona's cultural roots go back 2000 years.
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2000: Population Low
In 2000, Barcelona's population hit a low of 1,496,266 residents.
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2000: Bread & Butter urban fashion fair hosted
Starting in the summer of 2000, Barcelona hosted the Bread & Butter urban fashion fair.
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2000: Port of Barcelona History
The Port of Barcelona has a 2000-year-old history.
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2001: Population Born Outside Spain
In 2001, 22.5% of Barcelona's population was born outside of Spain.
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2001: Population Increase
Since 2001, Barcelona's population increased due to a new wave of immigration.
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2002: Diagonal Mar Park inaugurated
In 2002, Diagonal Mar Park was inaugurated in Barcelona, covering 13.3 ha.
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2004: High GDP
According to Eurostat, Barcelona city had a very high GDP of €80,894 per head in 2004.
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2004: Universal Forum of Cultures and World Urban Forum
In 2004, Barcelona hosted the Universal Forum of Cultures and the World Urban Forum.
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2004: Universal Forum of Cultures left concrete bathing zone
The 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures left Barcelona with a large concrete bathing zone on the eastern coastline.
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March 2006: Approval of current Municipal Law
In March 2006, the current version of Barcelona's Municipal Law was approved, organizing the city council and giving the local government a special relationship with the central government.
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2006: CosmoCaixa receives European Museum of the Year Award
In 2006, CosmoCaixa, a science museum in Barcelona, received the European Museum of the Year Award.
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March 2007: Bicing service started
In March 2007, Barcelona's City Council initiated the Bicing service, a bicycle-sharing program designed as public transport, allowing users with a card to rent bikes from numerous stations across the city.
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May 2007: Election and coalition agreement
After the May 2007 election, the ERC did not renew the coalition agreement and the PSC governed in a minority coalition with ICV as the junior partner.
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2007: Roman Catholic Inhabitants
In 2007, most of the inhabitants stated they are Roman Catholic.
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2008: High-speed rail extension
In 2008 the RENFE's AVE high-speed rail system was extended from Madrid to Barcelona.
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2008: City Population Density
In 2008, Barcelona's city council calculated the population to be 1,621,090, resulting in an average population density of 15,926 inhabitants per square kilometre.
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June 2009: New Terminal Opens
On 17 June 2009, a new terminal (T1) at Barcelona-El Prat Airport entered service.
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2009: The Brandery fashion show debut
From 2009, The Brandery, an urban fashion show, was held in Barcelona twice a year.
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2009: FC Barcelona sextuple
In 2009, FC Barcelona won six trophies in a calendar year, winning the sextuple.
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2009: Catalan Education Act
In 2009, the Catalan Education Act stipulated that the language of instruction at public schools and escoles concertades is Catalan.
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2009: Gross GDP
In 2009, the greater Barcelona metropolitan area had a GDP amounting to $177 billion.
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2009: Bread & Butter fair returns to Berlin
In 2009, the organizers of the Bread & Butter urban fashion fair announced it would be returning to Berlin.
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2010: Martorell Museum closed as geology museum
From 1924 to 2010, the Martorell Museum was open to the public as a geology museum.
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2010: Barcelona Marathon
In March 2010, the Barcelona Marathon had over 10,000 participants.
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May 2011: CiU gains a plurality of seats
On 22 May 2011, CiU gained a plurality of seats at the municipal election, winning 15 seats.
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2011: International Visitors
In 2011, Barcelona was the 20th-most-visited city in the world by international visitors, with 5.5 million.
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2011: Merge of Institutions for Museum of Natural Sciences
In 2011, the Museum of Natural Sciences ended up with a merge of five institutions
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2011: Survey
In a 2011 survey conducted by InfoCatólica, 49.5% of Barcelona residents of all ages identified themselves as Catholic.
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2012: Last Brandery Fashion Show
In 2012, the Brandery, an urban fashion show, held its last show in Barcelona.
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2013: World Aquatics Championships
Barcelona was the host city for the 2013 World Aquatics Championships, which were held at the Palau San Jordi.
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2013: Pleasure Cruise Passengers
In 2013, 3.6 million pleasure cruise passengers used the Port of Barcelona.
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2013: High-speed rail connecting Barcelona and France was launched
In 2013, a shared RENFE-SNCF high-speed rail connecting Barcelona and France (Paris, Marseille and Toulouse, through Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line) was launched.
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2013: Linguistic Census
In 2013, according to the linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia, Spanish was the most spoken language in Barcelona.
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2013: FC Barcelona Museum Visitors
In 2013, the FC Barcelona Museum attracted 1.51 million visitors, making it the third most popular tourist attraction in Catalonia.
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2013: Container Port Volume
In 2013, the Port of Barcelona had a trade volume of 1.72 million TEU's.
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2014: Muslim Population
In 2014, 322,698 people in the province of Barcelona identified as Muslim, making up 5.6% of the total population.
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2014: Southern European City of the Future
In 2014, Barcelona was recognized as the Southern European City of the Future by FDi Magazine.
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2015: Barcelona architecture award status
As of 2015, Barcelona remained the only city to have won the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for its architecture.
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2015: Sagrada Família completion plan
As of 2015, the planned completion date for the Sagrada Família was set for 2026.
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2015: Visitor Ranking
By 2015, Prague and Milan had more international visitors than Barcelona.
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2015: UNESCO City of Literature
In 2015, Barcelona became part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Literature.
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2015: Fashion Capital Ranking
In 2015, Barcelona was named the seventh most important fashion capital of the world, according to the Global Language Monitor's annual ranking.
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2015: Most Livable City
In 2015, Barcelona was the 24th most "livable city" in the world according to Monocle.
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January 2016: City Population
As of 1 January 2016, Barcelona's city population was 1,608,746 people.
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March 2016: Tourism Infrastructure
As of March 2016, Barcelona has 519 hotels including 35 five-star hotels.
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2016: Safest City
According to Business Insider, Barcelona was considered the 15th safest city in the world in 2016.
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2016: Birthplace of Inhabitants
In 2016, about 59% of Barcelona's inhabitants were born in Catalonia, and 18.5% came from the rest of Spain.
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May 2017: Barcelona included among "Eight Places That Hate Tourists the Most"
In May 2017, Barcelona was listed among the "Eight Places That Hate Tourists the Most" by The Independent, with Mayor Ada Colau expressing concerns about the city becoming a "cheap souvenir shop". The city began moderating tourism by halting new hotel licenses and fining AirBnb.
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August 2017: Terrorist Attack on La Rambla
On August 17, 2017, a van attack on La Rambla resulted in 14 deaths and numerous injuries, claimed as a jihadist attack.
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2017: Demographics
In 2017, the portion of people aged 65 and older made up 21.5% of the population.
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2017: Protests against Tourism
In early 2017, over 150,000 protesters expressed concerns that tourism was destabilizing the city, leading to slogans like "Tourists go home" and increasing rental housing costs for residents.
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2018: Airport Passenger Numbers
In 2018, Barcelona-El Prat Airport handled more than 50.17 million passengers.
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2019: Survey
In 2019, a survey by Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas showed that 53.2% of residents in Barcelona identified themselves as Catholic.
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2020: Most Affordable Cities
According to the Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report, Barcelona was one of the most affordable cities in the world for a luxury lifestyle in 2020.
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2020: FC Bayern Munich sextuple
In 2020, FC Bayern Munich won six trophies in a calendar year, winning the sextuple.
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July 2023: Barcelona Named UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture
In July 2023, Barcelona was announced as the UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture for the 2024-2026 term.
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2024: Capital of Architecture
In 2024, Barcelona will begin its term as the UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture, a role it will hold through 2026.
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2026: Planned completion of Sagrada Família
As of 2015, completion of the Sagrada Família was planned for 2026.
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2026: Host of the UIA World Congress of Architects
In 2026, Barcelona will host the UIA World Congress of Architects, in its role as the UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture.
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